Analysis: GOP cannot continue to insult Hispanics

In the aftermath of the election, any number of lessons will be drawn and, rightfully, debated. But there is one that both parties — especially the Republican Party — should heed: Money cannot trump demography in a working democracy.

There is no greater example of this lesson than the importance of Hispanic voters, whom Republican candidates for president not only ignored but went out of their way to scorn. Playing to ethnic fear and even dwelling in the basement of outright racism against Hispanics is a perfect formula for the long-term destruction of the Republican Party as a national political party and its transformation into a shrinking, regional one.

Hispanic, or Latino, voters pulled the lever for President Obama by a margin of 71 to 27 percent over former Gov. Mitt Romney. In turn, Romney relied upon a shrinking coalition of largely white, older male voters. Women, Catholics, younger people, African-Americans and Hispanics returned the president to the White House despite a terrible economic recovery and the widely held belief that the country is on the wrong track.

In the hours after the election some conservative commentators did their best to underscore their party’s problem. I am a huge fan of two old-school columnists, George Will and Charles Krauthammer. One can disagree with Krauthammer’s point of view but rarely with his analysis.

And yet, here was that rare moment. “All this cosmic stuff about how we have to reinvent the party,” he said on Fox News, “it is just a huge mistake.”

And what about calling for immigration crack-downs and “self-deportation” as about the only way Republicans even bothered to speak to Hispanic voters? “A tactical error,” Krauthammer called it. Not “structural.” And then he mumbled something about Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

Wrong. The Republican Party has a structural problem. It is ignoring the fact the majority of children born in this country today are born into Hispanic households. Hispanics will be the majority in this country by 2050.

Yes, this portends an important shift in political power in this country. But no, that’s not as simple as it sounds. Through inter-marriage, upward mobility and greater tolerance the country as a whole is simply becoming more tolerant and multi-racial.

The Hispanic experience in America may mimic the experience of Italians, Irish and African-Americans. But it will be distinct.

Take Texas, for example. Texas may become majority Hispanic within the next two years. But Texans aren’t calling for mass deportations. Yet, the conservative, Republican power structure of Texas is in danger of being woefully out of step.

With enough organization and money, Democrats could be competitive statewide in just a few years, according to Matt Glazer of Progress Texas, in the state that gave the nation George Bush and nearly gave it Rick Perry.

Frankly, the Democratic Party is taking Hispanics for granted - and has for years. At least Democrats don’t generally go out of their way to insult Hispanics, something the Republican Party has taken to doing despite knowing better.

George Bush wanted to shape a coalition that competed for Hispanic voters. His father’s political architect, Lee Atwater, wanted the same thing in the 1990s. He told me so before he died. So, it’s not as if Republicans cannot read reality.

But the Republican structural problem is its increasing over-reliance on being a Southern, white party that dominates legislatures, governors’ mansions and, as a result, particularly carefully drawn (read gerrymandered) congressional districts.

And no, Mr. Krauthammer, this is not a public relations problem solved by a former governor who has a Hispanic wife or a sharp young senator who has the right last name but still doesn’t come from the largest bloc of Hispanics, Mexican-Americans. The Republican Party can acknowledge reality and begin to find new ways to share power. Or it can continue to try to divide and conquer.

It can insult not just Hispanics but what is rapidly becoming a multiracial society. And Democrats will laugh. All the way to the White House.

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I think you missed the point of the article. A good start for Republicans is to stop referring to Hispanics as illegal aliens, support the Dream Act and support amnesty. Like it or not the Hispanics that have come here illegally are not going back so you might as well make it easier for them to become citizens.

If you are a latino voter odds are that someone in your family or close to you is in the country illegally, for many it is one or both parents. When that latino is deciding how to vote he hears one party talking about who can build the tallest, longest, widest electrified fence and deport the most people and another party talk about a path to citizenship inluding service in the military or graduating from college. Even if the voter agreed with Republicans on every other issue, deporting his Mother is probably a deal breaker. Sensible immigration reform is critical to Republicans in this term if the R's want to win the White House again. They don't have to embrace amnesty, but they have to offer compassionate solutions i.e. a path to at least legal residency, but most likely citizenship since they played hardball too long with this issue.

Yes, every single adult Mexican who came over here did so illegally. And yes, he/she committed a crime. But I do have a heart and compassion so I will suggest something that may have been partly tried before but did not work. First, we need to seal the borders all the way across. Then we need an accounting of who is here illegally and offer them amnesty if they have not broken any laws and are working. They must pay a fine and get in the back of the line (figuratively speaking) That doesn't mean they should have to leave the country because they would have to quit their job and leave family and friends. But while they are waiting until their legal process is making it's way through the immigration courts there has to be restrictions such as no drivers licenses and no driving until that immigration status gets resolved. When they are accepted they have certain amount of time to pay their fine and until that is paid in full only then should they be allowed to drive.

This is the only fair way to do this because there are many people from other countries seeking permanent status in the U.S. and do it the right way like my daughters in law did. She and my son at first applied for a fiancee;s visa. We sent the paperwork in plus a check for $400.00. After 9 months she was invited to the American consulate in Tokyo and was give her fiancess's visa. They had to be married within 90 days which they were. Then she was issued a marriage visa and she had to apply for a permanent status visa. Out comes the checkbook again and more paper work to fill in and after about 6 months they had an interview together at some ICE headquarters in Charleston. The she was given her permanent visa, social security and was now able to get a learners's license, learn to drive and then get a real driver's license.

What I said about Mexicans is about as fair as you can get it because it would be a slap in the face to the people who were patient and waited their turn. If later they choose citizenship, that is wonderful and now you can join the Republican party.

Yes, it's a lot of work to do and waiting and while they are waiting those 9 months to a year they can't have a job because they have no SS number so I don't know how we would work the job issue with the Mexicans we would be granting legal status to. What is fair has to be fair for all but I can't feel that it is alright to throw people back across the border when caught and continue to live in squalor with their families when they could be over here picking cotton and happy to do it. God wants us to be compassionate toward our fellow human beings. We should reach out and share with one another. But the borders must be sealed first.

Don't get me wrong I still adhere to what the Republican Party stands for but sometimes people are more important than a political party.

Businesses actively recruited them and hired them, and government officials on all levels and of all parties looked the other way, When impoverished people saw the opportunity to get work and feed their families, they of course grabbed it, and they were encouraged to do it.

Now, we have 15 - 20 million or so undocumented in our country. The solution is to make border security as solid as possible, and to allow people that were here by a date certain who did not commit crimes while here a chance to become citizens. In order to avoid spurring a return to the high levels of illegal immigration of the past, we need to make it clear in the legislation that anyone coming after that date certain will be deported and will never be permitted to qualify for citizenship if they have came later or were deported.

We also need to allow those who were brought to the USA as minors by their parents and have not committed crimes a quicker opportunity for citizenship, because they were not at fault when the border crossing was made.

These are humane, common sense suggestions. It is time to do it, not for the sake of politics, but for the greater good.

In the case of illegal immigrants yes I do support crime without punishment. Some of these people have been year working for years so we might as well make it easier for them to become citizens. But if Republicans want to keep fighting the issue that is fine with me. That's just means more votes for the Democrats

I think I said the same thing you did but you said it better and more to the point. Except I wasn't so much thinking that as you mentioned, for years illegals were encouraged, or at the very least authorities "looked the other way" when Mexicans came across the border and worked at jobs Americans didn't want to do and employers didn't want to pay for anything but cheap labor. Now with 20 million illegals we are paying the piper. But before we can do anything about the ones who are already here we need to close the borders. And make it stick.

This goes back at least to the 1980s, Maybe before that. I can only speak from what I know personally. I know the "illegals" started doing the jobs the "legal" citizens refused to do for the wages they would receive way back in the 1980's.

TOO MANY of these legal citizens thought they should be paid more for their "labor" jobs and that's where the "illegals" got their hold on the labor jobs. The "legals" refused to work for less than they thought they were worth regardless of the hardships they and their families had to endure. They thought it was better not to make a dime than to make less than they thought they were worth.